Shkreli Bid to Overturn $65 Million Daraprim Award Rejected by Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court left in place a $65 million antitrust judgment against Martin Shkreli, the “Pharma Bro” who served almost seven years in prison for defrauding investors.

The justices without comment turned away Shkreli’s bid to overturn the award in a lawsuit by state and federal officials over a scheme to control the market for the drug Daraprim.

Shkreli, 41, argued unsuccessfully that the so-called disgorgement award would force him to give back profits that went entirely to Vyera Pharmaceuticals LLC, not to him. Shkreli founded Vyera, originally known as Turing Pharmaceutical, and was its chief executive.

A federal appeals court upheld the award along with a lifetime ban prohibiting Shkreli from working in the pharmaceutical industry. Shkreli didn’t challenge that aspect of the case at the Supreme Court.

Daraprim is a life-saving treatment for a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis. Shkreli acquired the rights the drug in 2015 from the only supplier and immediately raised the price from $17.50 a tablet to $750. The move earned him the unofficial title of the “most hated man in America.”

Vyera and the other defendants settled in 2021, agreeing to pay as much as $40 million. Shkreli told the Supreme Court the accord means he will effectively be left liable for the remainder of the award.

States led by New York urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeal without a hearing. The Federal Trade Commission, which also pressed the case against Shkreli, chose not to file a response to his Supreme Court petition.

The case is Shkreli v. Federal Trade Commission, 23-1338.